Thomas Tuchel questioned his Chelsea side’s commitment “physically and mentally” after they were hammered 4-0 by Arsenal.
First-half goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard put the Gunners in complete control at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando before Bukayo Saka tapped in during the second period and Albert Sambi Lokonga rubbed salt into the wounds with an injury-time header.
Thomas Tuchel admitted he was worried and did not hold back after seeing his team collapse against one of their Premier League rivals with the new season just two weeks away.
“I think we deserved to lose – which is fair enough – because we were simply not good enough,” he said.
“We were absolutely not competitive. The worrying part is the level of commitment, physically and mentally, for this match was not the same, it was far higher for Arsenal than us.
“We can argue they played with I think their strongest line-up; they’ve had now together several weeks and for more than one year. They’ve strengthened their line-up, played the same structure, and this is the line-up they’ll try to start Premier League games.
“It was not our strongest line-up and this is part of an explanation, but only a little part. The other part is worrying.”
Kalidou Koulibaly’s 17-minute cameo, his first appearance since signing from Napoli in a £33m deal, was the only positive for Tuchel.
However, his and Chelsea’s performance highlighted the need for the club to make more signings with their pursuit of Jules Kounde still ongoing.
“There is no update, no update,” Tuchel said on Kounde. “The analysing of the season does not change because of this game.
